Linux Top 3: Tails 1.0, OpenMandriva Lx 2014.0 and Debian 7.5

May 5, 2014

By
Sean Michael Kerner

1) Tails 1.0

One of the most talked about new Linux releases in some time was the Tails 1.0 milestone that debuted last week. Tails gained notoriety after being identified as the Linux distribution used by National Security Agency whistleblower, Edward Snowden.

Tails is an acronym that stands for - The Amnesic Incognito Live System. Tails is a Live Linux distribution based on Debian with the goal of providing users with an easy to use privacy focussed operating system. Tor network connectivity is backed into the distribution as are browser add-ons and tools that seek to help users stay private.

"Version 1.0 is often an important milestone that denotes the maturity of a free software project. The first public version of what would become Tails was released on June 23 2009, when it was called Amnesia," Tails developers wrote in their release announcement. "That was almost five years ago. Tails 1.0 marks the 36th stable release since then."

2) OpenMandriva Lx 2014.0

OpenMandriva­ Lx 2014.0 Phosphorus was officially released last week, providing a new generation of browser for the Linux distribution once known as Mandrake.

"The name of our release, taken from the Greek meaning 'Light-Bringer', describes our hopes for this work," the OpenMandriva Lx 2014.0 release announcement states."Those of you who have used the original Mandrake/Mandriva distributions for many years will find some familiar ground, and there is also much that is new and updated and some that has been retired."

Gael Duval, the original founder of Mandrake has taken the time to review OpenMandriva Lx 2014.0 His view that that OpenMandriva Lx 2014.0 seems to be quite solid and well finished.

"It’s a level of quality that can only be achieved when experienced developers and contributors are really engaged in a project," Duval wrote. "Most hardware devices are supported and configured by default. Certainly a very good root for the next releases."

3) Debian 7.5

"The Debian project is pleased to announce the fifth update of its stable distribution Debian 7 (codename "wheezy")," Debian developer Neil McGovern wrote in the release announcement. "This update mainly adds corrections for security problems to the stable release, along with a few adjustments for serious problems. Security advisories were already published separately and are referenced where available."

Sean Michael Kerner is a senior editor at LinuxPlanet.com and InternetNews.com Follow him on Twitter @TechJournalist